


bloody knuckles

by Previously8



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Shindou Ainosuke | Adam Gets What He Deserves, it happens off-screen because i refuse to write him into a fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:15:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29254305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Previously8/pseuds/Previously8
Summary: Cherry punches Adam for being a creep in the aftermath of episode 5 and talks to Joe about it.(Look, we all wanted Adam to face consequences after that last episode, and if I had to write it then so be it! get on board the angst train!)
Relationships: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe & Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom, Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 30
Kudos: 412
Collections: read stories





	bloody knuckles

**Author's Note:**

> look, was this the first fic I thought I'd be writing in this fandom? absolutely not. Is it still the one I wrote? Yes. This is inspired by and goes out to all of the people on tumblr tearing Adam apart!
> 
> Note that here, Joe refers to himself as Kojirou (his first name) and to Cherry as either Cherry or ~~or Sakurayakashi~~ Kaoru (because hell if I'm not going to make their relationship complicated On Purpose). Post ep-6 edit: since it's well-established in canon that they use each other's first names, I've fixed that up. lmk if I've missed any!!
> 
> edit: (some) typos corrected ~~look, I wrote this in half an hour~~
> 
> Warnings: oblique references to Adam's behaviour in ep 5, implied violence, alcohol.

Cherry’s knuckles are bloody when he stalks into the restaurant. If Kojirou weren’t watching the door, wary of this exact scenario, he might have missed it. 

“You’re here late,” he says. “Cheapskate like you can’t afford my overtime.”

Cherry sits down at the bar, ignoring Kojirou completely, and waves a hand casually, as though requesting a drink. It doesn’t work—he gets halfway through the motion before his hand spasms and pain flashes across his face. 

It’s clear that Kaoru is still Cherry right now—the sleeveless tight-fitting top and less obviously traditional dress is a dead giveaway, not to mention the high ponytail that really does nothing to keep the hair out of his face (a source of longstanding arguments between them, what can Kojirou say). There is something a little wild about him, in the way that Cherry can be but that Sakurayashiki never lets himself indulge. 

Kojirou scoops some of the gelato leftover from the day’s service into a small bowl and brings it out.

Cherry looks up at him.

“You imbecile,” he says, with none of the usual heat, “what, are you going to feed it to me?” He gestures obliquely to his bruised knuckles, “my hands are indisposed.”

“You could eat ice cream left-handed if you wanted to,” Kojirou points out. He doesn’t go any further with their usual name-calling. Something has happened, something that brought one of his oldest friends to his shop, the night after the cops showed up to S, the night after Adam was—well, _Adam_. 

Cherry sighs. 

Upon closer inspection, there isn’t as much blood as Kojirou thought, initially. Most of it is flaking, already dry—and probably, Kojirou realizes, not Cherry’s own. The joints are still reddened and swollen, ready to bruise purple with time. It probably hurts like a bitch—not that Cherry would ever admit it— and will make calligraphy pretty much impossible for the near future. 

Cherry picks up the spoon awkwardly in his left hand. He hates it, Kojirou can tell, looking like he’s weak, maybe, or showing a side of himself that isn’t a performance. Kojirou wants to shake him for it sometimes, remind him that they’ve known each other for a decade, that Kojirou knew him before there even was a persona to hide behind. They get close to addressing it sometimes, when they argue, but it’s not often that they’re open with each other. Not anymore. 

He heads to the back instead. They keep a well-stocked and fresh first aid kit in the kitchen. It’s a necessity in any restaurant, and Kojirou has been on the wrong end of a knife—not to mention on the wrong side of the skate track—often enough to know how essential it is. 

He sets it on the bar. The lime gelato—an experiment, one that Kojirou hoped Kaoru would get the chance to try—is almost gone. The little wafer is still present, but Kojirou knew it would be. Kaoru doesn’t like them.

He’s back to his normal self, now, maybe. The hard edges of him are still a little blurred. Kojirou thinks he looks somehow younger. 

“Thank you,” Kaoru says, reaching for the kit.

“Yeah, right,” Kojirou says, pulling it back towards himself. “You can’t wrap your hand, by yourself. You’re not a god, Kaoru.”

Kaoru stills, briefly. Kojirou kicks himself. 

There are lines drawn, between them, that they have to obey. If they learnt anything, by being friends—if you could call what he did “friends”—with Adam, it was that there are certain boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed once, let alone twice. Something about the past couple of weeks has thrown them out of balance, though. Maybe it’s the new kids, or Adam himself showing up again. Maybe it’s neither and this is just the culmination of years of inaction. 

“What did you do?” Kojirou asks, wetting a towel in some warm water. Kaoru offers up his right hand, palm down, without a word. He undoes his ponytail with the other, his pink hair cascading in tangles down his back. It'll be a bitch to brush out. Kojirou won't offer like he might have once. 

There is a long beat of silence where Kojirou is sure he won’t get an answer.

“I punched Adam,” Kaoru says finally. 

Kojirou, very carefully, does not still his movements where he is still dabbing at the blood on Kaoru’s hand. The brown flakes are turning the towel in his hand pink, and he keeps his gaze there even as shock jolts through him. Kaoru wouldn't do something like that, not usually, not with his insistence on calculation, precision. Cherry, on the other hand, might. That's worrying in its own way. 

“You aren’t going to ask why?” Kaoru asks. His voice is quiet. Subdued. 

(There was a time—there was a time when Kaoru’s voice was only ever this, when it had been stolen, when the sport he loved had been destroyed in his mind, when his sense of self had been decimated, and Kojirou had been there to pick up the pieces. It’s frightening, that he should sound the same, now.)

Kojirou throws the towel out. “No one ever needs a reason to punch Adam,” he says. Then, maybe belatedly, “did it feel good?”

Kaoru hums an agreement. “Yes,” he says. He flexes his other hand. “I only got one hit in.”

“A shame.”

Kojirou starts unrolling some gauze, thinks better of it, and reaches to grab some ice from the bar, wrapping it in a fresh towel and offering it to Kaoru. After a beat, Kaoru takes it. He presses it against his swollen hand.

It’s quiet in the shop. It’s long after closing time, long after his limited staff heads home, long after the last of the people at the bar vanish to later night haunts. Kojirou only comes in this late when he can’t sleep. He thinks up recipes, uses his kitchen as a distraction. 

Figures, that Kaoru would know to find him here. The automatic fan switches on.

“You saw him tonight,” Kaoru says. “How he was with those kids.”

A ripple of revulsion shudders through Kojirou. He wonders, not for the first time, if letting minors skate in S was ever going to be a good idea. There’s danger in skateboarding, of course, but there’s also danger in anonymity. The part of him that is always Joe revels in the adrenaline of it all, the excitement, almost uncaring. That's the part of him that Adam had liked, had honed in him, too. He swallows it.

“Yeah.” Kojirou agrees. He reaches under the bar, picks himself and Kaoru a beer. Kaoru, who under normal circumstances would never drink an export, accepts it gratefully and takes a long swig. “Why not before? Why now?”

Kaoru makes a face. “You know Adam,” he says. “His performance is everything.”

“You’ve definitely messed up his play,” Kojirou agrees. And then, to make himself clear, “Good.”

He takes another long swig of his beer. They fear retribution, of course they do. Still, the image of Adam, face bloody and swollen, skin torn and image thoroughly destroyed, is a nice one. To have him brought down to a level that’s almost human again, to crush his performances, all of them, with one well-placed punch—well, it’s more than Kojirou can hope for, right now. He will save the daydreams of Adam, bruised and bloody and ruined, for a day when he has the guts to enact his own revenge. 

“He’s going to come after us again.” Kaoru’s voice has no room for argument.

It’s true, they both know it’s true: You don’t mess with Adam unless you can stand to lose everything you have. There is a slump to Kaoru’s shoulders that wasn’t there, a minute before. It’s the defeated way that anyone who has ever tried, dared to try, to win against Adam will carry. Kojirou sees it in himself. 

But some things, he knows, are worth it. There was never any real choice for them, not after today. 

“He’s a creep,” Kojirou agrees. “He deserves what’s coming for him. I can take the heat.” He’s not sure if it’s true, but he serves no one by wavering now. 

Kaoru meets his eyes for the first time since he came in the door. There’s a modicum of Cherry’s steel in his eyes. “I refuse to let Adam behave like this,” he says, “S isn't his. Not anymore.”

Kojirou doesn’t tell him it won’t be easy. He’s sure that Kaoru has done the calculations, knows what he’s risking. Kojirou would do it, too. 

“I’ll be there,” he promises, tapping the neck of his bottle against Kaoru’s. He manages a sly smile, “but only if you pay your tab, cheapskate.”

**Author's Note:**

> well there you go! I hope you liked it!
> 
> also, just to be clear: this is in no way reflective of what would actually happen etc., nor me advocating for violence or whatever, it's just a piece of fanfiction because I wanted to play with the characters :)
> 
> please leave a comment to let me know what you thought!!  
> you can also find me on tumblr [ @everythingsdifferentupsidedown ](https://everythingsdifferentupsidedown.tumblr.com)


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